Re: sony f707 and ND filters
Posted By: Chris Maher <c@1x.com>
Date: Saturday, 12 January 2002, at 11:40 p.m.
In Response To: sony f707 (jim lanning)
The Sony 707 is a great camera, and does a wonderful job shooting infrared. But it has been intentionally limited (some might say crippled) by Sony. When in Nightshot (infrared) mode it will not shoot at exposures shorter than 1/60 of a second, or close it lens down. This results in way overexposed images in full daylight. The easiest way to compensate for this is to reduce exposure with neutral density filters.
Although it may seem strange that Sony would limit the camera in this way, there is a reason. Do you remember the ABC new exposé that claimed that people were using Sony video cameras in infrared mode to shoot pictures of people at the beach, and they could see through peoples bathing suits? (I've included a link to the ABC story below this post) The truth is, some fabrics are quite translucent to infrared light, especially, it seems, wet bathing suits. (To see examples, search on Google for what enthusiasts refer to as infrared xray pictures).
So, by limiting the camera, Sony is making it difficult for people to abuse the privacy rights of unsuspecting subjects. I find this unfortunate, because without this limitation, a 707 would be shooting IR through an 88a filter at 1/500 of a second at f4 in full sun. That would be an awesome tool for the kind of work I am doing.
Chris
Link to the ABC Story on IR 'xray' pictures